采
cǎi · HSK 7
pick
🍒 Hand (爫) reaching down over a tree (木) to pick fruit
The top of 采 is 爫, a claw-like hand with fingers spread. Below sits 木, tree. Put together: a hand descending on a tree to pluck what grows there.
采 — hand 爫 (claw) on top of tree 木
采 is an ideographic character showing a hand (爫) reaching down over a tree (木), depicting picking fruit or leaves. Its original meaning was 'to pluck' or 'gather,' which extended to 'collect' and 'select.' Later it also took on the sense of 'colorful' or 'variegated,' a meaning now often written as 彩.